Baptism

The man hiding behind the Phosphorescent Beast had weak legs, his body trembling uncontrollably. A strong smell of urine wafted from his lower body.

"...Big brother..."

Filled with regret, he had been mocking Clark just a second ago, relying on the Phosphorescent Beast's words. The others behind him were in a panic, wanting to run but afraid to do so.

They had already witnessed Clark's speed. If Arnold was a 4 and the Phosphorescent Beast was a 5, then Clark was a 10!

Everything happened so quickly that nobody could believe what they were seeing.

They had initially thought that Clark was just a fool coming to his death. At the very least, they should have tangled with the two of them. The Phosphorescent Beast's easy victory over the terrifying black bear had established Anselm's invincibility in their minds.

Little did they expect that the outcome would be Clark brutally slaughtering the Phosphorescent Beast. Clark didn't even give the beast a chance to speak.

If it weren't for what Clark had mentioned earlier, that he was considering taking the Phosphorescent Beast as a "dog" from the start, the beast would probably have been killed in the first moment it appeared.

"Plop."

Everyone knelt on the ground, begging for their lives incoherently. They had seen how ruthless Arnold was when it came to killing. With Clark being even more powerful and on the same team, they could easily imagine their fate.

This kind of death was too brutal, too cruel!

"Big brother, please spare us. We were coerced too!"

"Don't treat us like pieces of sh**! We're nothing! Please, spare us!"

"We really haven't done anything wrong. It was all the leaders and Anselm who did those things."

"Yeah, brother, please, just have mercy on us since they're all dead."

The four of them knelt on the ground, practically groveling, pouring their hearts out in the hopes of persuading Clark. Tears streamed down their faces, and they all had looks of regret, as if they had truly been coerced.

"Will you spare them?"

Clark smiled slightly, with Dirk already by his side following his command. Dirk was somewhat bewildered, not knowing why Clark had called him over. So much had happened in just a minute, and he still hadn't fully come to his senses.

Crack.

Clark appeared next to the people on the ground like a phantom, and the sound of bones breaking resonated in a series, like the cracking of emerald bamboo.

"Ah, ah, ah!"

Screams and cries of pain. No one could maintain composure after witnessing their limbs being twisted while they were still alive.

One second later, Clark calmly returned to his original position, as if the broken limbs before him were not those of humans but lifeless objects.

"Dirk, kill them."

"Not one should be left."

His voice was icy, pronouncing their death sentences.

Dirk stood there, dumbfounded, unable to believe what he was witnessing as Clark walked towardsthe scale beasts.

"Clark... kill them all?"

He blurted out unconsciously. Just ten days ago, he had been a regular person living in peaceful times, let alone being a military man who consistently regarded protecting others as his code of conduct. Clark's harsh words were seriously challenging his values and moral boundaries.

The people on the ground were indeed despicable, but shouldn't it be the job of the police and the law to punish them? Even if there were no authorities left, Dirk found it extremely difficult to carry out such an act. These... were living, breathing human beings!

"Clark!"

Dirk looked at the individuals on the ground, now twisted into grotesque shapes, and hesitated, unable to resist turning his head to call out to Clark.

"Their limbs are broken, and they won't survive in this post-apocalyptic world."

"To be honest, I think this kind of punishment is probably enough. Not everyone may have been involved... killing them all..."

Clark turned around and calmly looked at him.

"Do you think I'm being too cruel? Inhumane? Do you perhaps believe that they might truly have been coerced, as they claim?" 

He let out a sigh.

"Or perhaps... you feel that I've become a stranger, unlike the Clark you knew before?"

Dirk remained silent. He did indeed feel that the Clark in front of him was somewhat unfamiliar. The Clark he used to know was a kind and non-confrontational person who would never raise his voice. 

But why had he become so bloodthirsty now?

Clark understood what was going through Dirk's mind. He didn't blame Dirk for feeling this way. It was only natural for anyone newly exposed to the post-apocalyptic world to hesitate, to be compassionate, and to find it difficult to take a life. Human hearts were complex and underwent gradual transformations. They were different from the remnants who were malevolent even before the apocalypse. These remnants only reveled in their wickedness after the outbreak, viewing the apocalypse as a paradise and losing their humanity.

Most ordinary people, however, could be exploited. Their kindness could be mercilessly deceived and abused. This was why Clark wanted Dirk to undergo this "baptism."

As his best friend, he didn't want Dirk to end up like he had in his past life—vulnerable due to kindness and hesitation, betrayed. If it were someone else, he wouldn't bother expending this effort to help them grow. Those who couldn't adapt and grow quickly in the face of the apocalypse deserved to be weeded out, as the law of the jungle prevailed.

But for those he wanted to protect, he genuinely hoped they could avoid the painful costs and lessons.

"Dirk, I want to show you something."

Dirk was taken aback. What did Clark want to show him?

Clark's gaze turned toward a nearby gas station, which was where these people had been hiding.

"Sandra, come here too."

"Bring the head ofthe scale beast with us; that thing isn't so easy to kill."

Not dead?

Dirk couldn't believe it and quickly turned his head to look at the body that had been severed into two parts next to the pit.

The severed head ofthe scale beast lying on the ground seemed to sense the gazes of the people and trembled in fear for a brief moment.

Clark smiled faintly at the situation. With his current mental and control abilities, if he couldn't even ensure that he had killed an enemy with his strike, that would be quite laughable. Pretending to be dead, did they really think he didn't know? He had intentionally controlled the trajectory of his strike to ensure thatthe scale beast lost its combat ability but could briefly stay alive. It wasn't that he was unwilling to take a life; he wanted to spare it. It was purely because he wanted Sandra to be the one to finish offthe scale beast.

For a 0th-tier symbiote to advance to the next level, it required killing an Awakened, which was similar to how Awakened advanced their levels. Though he didn't know how Sandra had advanced to the 3rd tier in her past life, she currently had no combat ability. Now that an Awakened had come to their doorstep, he wouldn't waste the opportunity.

As a 1st-tier symbiote, he didn't know what kind of surprises Sandra's advancement to the next level might bring. As the most mysterious symbiote in his past life, no one knew the exact nature of their abilities. He hoped Sandra would perform well after advancing because, with Lynn's psychic barrier in place, their abilities were somewhat redundant until Sandra reached the 3rd tier. Sandra appeared with a reptilian creature's head, her body wrapped in bandages and her small stature making her look like a child. An expressionless little girl carrying a severed head created an eerie scene.

"Let's go inside first."

Clark led the two of them to the entrance of the gas station, his gaze contemplative. He had another reason for not killingthe scale beast yet. He had sensed the presence of a special item on the creature, and that item was likely the key to a "hidden treasure" from his past life. If his senses were correct, the 0th-tier Awakened reptilian creature was capable of rivaling or even surpassing 1st-tier Awakened like Arnold.